The staff at the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant put a box overtop of the skunk after Thursday’s 3:30 p.m. incident, according to county officials, and an animal control officer used a catch pole to retrieve the skunk from under the box and take it to an area near the restaurant’s parking lot, where it was shot with a .22-caliber rifle.

After examining the dead skunk's brain tissue, Maryland public health officials later confirmed that the animal had rabies.

Three raccoons and two other skunks involved in contact with owned animals have been confirmed as rabid since January 1. Fourteen animals from St. Mary’s County were confirmed to have rabies in 2011 including two raccoons, five skunks, four foxes and three cats.

Katherine Feldman, Maryland's state public health veterinarian, told The Huffington Post that it was six as of Monday, when she received the newest available data.

She also said that she's "not surprised" by the skunk attack. Maryland has between 300 and 500 confirmed cases of rabies per year, Feldman said, and aggressiveness like that displayed by the skunk is "the hallmark of rabies." (Rabies is transmitted through saliva, and so rabid animals become likely to bite.)

Feldman said that, unfortunate as the Cheeseburger in Paradise skunk bite case may be, it's also a "fabulous opportunity to remind folks that we have rabies in the state." So people should be sure to vaccinate their pets and "enjoy wildlife from a distance."